Seminars
Seminars occur on Tuesday afternoons in ISB 130 and run between 1:30-2:30 PM Pacific with a hybrid option over Zoom unless otherwise posted. To join the mailing list, please contact Prof. Brianne Gutmann at brianne.gutmann@sjsu.edu with the words "Seminars and Events" included in the subject heading.
This Week
A Nepantlera/o/x guides transfer students along their STEM bachelor-degree: an extended
case study emerges two practices
Camila Monsalve Avendaño
Tuesday, 11/5/2024, 1:30-2:30pm Pacific
Abstract: During this presentation, I will talk at the beginning of my career path and illustrate
how my experience guided me to wonder about education within the physics field. My
main objective of the talk is to focus on how systemic racism in STEM manifests both
in the structural and interpersonal domains and mediated by an advisor. Guided by
the Transfer Receptive Culture framework on how systemic racism impacts transfer students
of color, we explore how an advisor as a transfer advocate mediates their experiences
at a bachelor-degree granting institution. In this extended case study, we use Acevedo’s
(2020) work about high school teachers as Nepantleras to describe how institutional
advocates are also Nepantleras at a bachelor-degree granting institution. We focus
on an hour and a half interview with Marie (a pseudonym) who is an advisor at a predominantly
white institution. In this presentation, we will unpack two of Marie's practices,
mestiza/o/x’s consciousness and thought language. Marie’s thoughtful language and
mestiza/o/x’s consciousness exemplify how institutional advocates address the interpersonal
and structural domains of institutionalized racism at a bachelor-degree granting institution.
Bio: Camila Monsalve Avendaño is a Colombian immigrant who grew up in Miami and is also McNair Scholar from her undergraduate institution Florida International University, where she obtained both her bachelor’s in biology and physics. Currently, she is a PhD student at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University (MSU). During her first year of graduate school, she was a recipient of Academic Achievement Graduate Assistantship. Within physics education research, she is interested in what institutional practices of a bachelor-degree granting support transfer students in STEM. She is excited about the next face of her career to continue in academia after graduating in the spring of 2026. In her spare time, she enjoys catching up with or visiting family, cooking, weightlifting, playing pool and watching movies.
